Have you ever wondered, “If God is so good, then why is this happening?” Many of us have found ourselves faced with circumstances that would cause us to call God’s character into question. We question His very goodness and the goodness of His plans for our lives. And if there isn’t a good God, with a good plan, then why should we even bother to dream at all?

Our recovery necessitates that we recognize that while others have accidentally and even sometimes intentionally harmed us, any resentments that we entertain against them will handicap us spiritually and emotionally. Resentment poisons our hearts. Then it circulates into every part of our lives. It’s like taking poison and expecting someone else to get sick and die.

In order to help bring someone to where they want to be, we have to meet them where they are at and start there. This is one of the things I love about God. He loves and accepts us just as we are, and then loves us into becoming all that He created us to be.

Several years into marriage, when my husband confessed that he had been having affairs, I felt like every hope I ever had for my life was crushed in an instant. In the wake of my husband’s confession, I was faced with a decision… Where was I going to place my hope? Was I going place my hope in the dream? Or was I going to place hope in God?

I still believe that story matters. I still believe it brings freedom. I believe it humanizes the woman on the other end of the dollar. It is a powerful tool in bringing awareness, education, and hope. But I also believe my story is bigger than the pain and victimhood of my past. That part of my story is just that, “part of my story”. It isn’t who I am. My identity is in Jesus. I am not defined by what I have done, but what He has done. My story matters, but it does not define me.

Beloved, God has so much more for you. God gave you dreams in your heart so that they could be fulfilled! God wants healthy, loving relationships for you. God wants your identity to be secure in God, unable to be lost or injured by people around you. God wants to heal you and shine a light in your life that will overwhelm any darkness.

One cold, rainy night that November—two years after his initial fall—Michael came to a crossroads with God. That night, standing in a driving rain storm, he felt like God was asking him for a real surrender of his life. “I knew that God was asking me to give up more than just sexual sin.

You probably know Nick's story (he's the young man who was born without arms or legs). His office, Life without Limbs, is located just across the freeway from Joni and Friends, and recently he asked me to come and lead his staff in a time of devotions and prayer.

At noon, a runaway truck struck a minibus at the foot of Jerusalem and bound together the lives of 22 people: 18 Israeli Chasidim, two American Jews, an Israeli Arab and an Israeli Jew who had just found religion. The last died at the wheel of his bus. The rest of us returned to our homes to heal -- a medical jet flying me, my broken neck and a respirator back to New York. I was 19

One of the very real questions I have had to face in ministry is whether or not men in habitual sexual sin are truly saved. I have diligently studied the issue in Scripture with some of the best teachers from the three great schools of thought: Calvinism, Fundamentalism and Arminianism. After 20 years of sincerely considering this question with an open mind, I think I have finally arrived at a conclusion with which I am satisfied.

Ever since the Promise Keeper’s movement was launched, accountability has been a buzzword among Christians. I travel thousands of miles all over the country speaking in churches of all denominations on the issue of sexual purity, and over and over I keep hearing people say that the key to overcoming sexual sin is accountability. Yet, with all the emphasis on accountability, the problem of sexual sin continues to escalate.

“While you sleep, a miracle happens. Tomorrow morning when you wake up, what will you see yourself doing, thinking, or believing about yourself that will tell you that a miracle has actually taken place?”

Well, my life changed at Pure Life Ministries, and I thank God my pastor took a stand with me. I could have never imagined that I would eventually become the director of the PLM live-in program. Since that time, I have been involved in some situations where church discipline was used effectively by the pastor, but unfortunately, many pastors haven’t utilized this God-given tool for restoration.

Let me state the obvious: Pastors are humans. That means they have preferences, likes, and dislikes. So I did an unscientific Twitter poll to find out what pastors really don't like about their jobs. By the way, one pastor cautioned me about calling their ministries "jobs." I understand, but it's hard to fit "God-called vocation and ministry" into a 140-character Twitter question.

You may have heard of the myth of the “happy hooker”. Just as prevalent in our culture is the myth of the “happy porn star”. As a matter of fact, one of the most predominant pro-porn arguments I hear is that of the “happy porn star”.

Besides the desire to get a good workout, many women say they enjoy pole-dancing classes because it makes them feel sexy. Our sexuality is a part of our design. But what is sexy? What does healthy sexuality look like?

Over the past fifteen years, the Church in America has been rocked by numerous sexual scandals within the roles of its leadership. A great number of ministers have fallen prey to the temptress of sexual sin.

Rather than picking apart our churches and criticizing them for what they lack, I wonder what could happen if we all asked God to show us what role He would like us to play in the church that He has planted us in. What could happen if we made a decision to faithfully steward what we have been entrusted with there? Knowing we can trust God with the big picture.

Nobody enjoys the feeling of guilt over wrongdoing. However, the alternative is to have no feeling: no Holy Ghost conviction, no discernment of right from wrong, and no sense of shame over the evil nature of sin. The human conscience truly is a gift from God.